The conventional wisdom about the global dominance of the U.S. dollar is that it brings tremendous benefits to the American economy. U.S. firms can conduct their business internationally in their own currency, mitigating exchange-rate risks and transaction costs. Most of all, the U.S. government can finance its deficits at extremely low …
Today on China’s Hainan Island, the leaders of the BRIC countries – Brazil, Russia, India and China – met for their latest summit, which this time included South Africa (hey, how did they get an invite?). These now regular blabber-fests have arisen (in theory) to better promote the views of the emerging world on key global issues …
It came as no surprise to anyone following the ongoing euro zone debt crisis that Portugal on Wednesday finally asked the European Union for a bailout. Pressure on the country’s beleaguered leadership had been intensifying for weeks, as it became harder and harder for the cash-strapped government to raise money on international markets …
Yesterday in this space, I asked if investors would come to reassess the riskiness of developed economies and usher in a “sea change” in how money is allocated around the world. Could Japan, the most indebted of all industrialized countries, be the trigger to start that dramatic process? Since the devastating earthquake and tsunami …
I was traveling in China when the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened. My parents live in northern New Jersey, not far from New York City, and knowing my mother would be terribly worried about me, I called her to assure her all was well. “It’s not safe,” she told me anxiously. “You must come home.”
This put me in a bit of an …
We got an early indication today of how the giant earthquake and tsunami that ravaged northeastern Japan on March 11 damaged the Japanese economy. And it ain’t pretty. The Markit/JMMA purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for March (which you can find here) shows that some serious hurt was put on Japan’s industrial sector. The PMI, an …
Talk about being on the hot seat. The economic fate of Europe and the future course of the euro crisis could very well rest in the hands of Spain’s Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Why is that? Financial markets are already assuming that Portugal will be the third member of the infamous PIIGS to fall into a European …
A few weeks ago, I wrote a story for TIME magazine about Germany’s role in Europe, and how its strong competitiveness was creating imbalances within the euro zone that were at the heart of the current European debt crisis. The solution to that “Germany problem” wasn’t easy – tough reforms in both Germany and its weaker …
The government of Portugal collapsed Wednesday night, an unfortunate event that will likely rekindle the euro zone debt crisis. Prime Minister Jose Socrates resigned after the parliament rejected a slate of austerity measures he was promoting to rein in the country’s budget deficit and debt. Portugal’s borrowing costs were already …
The earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis that hit Japan have woken up the world’s business community to the precariousness of the global supply chain. Japan is a major manufacturer of all kinds of stuff that goes into other stuff, like car parts and chips, and the disruption of production in Japan in the wake of the natural …
OK, send in the hate mail! I wrote an essay in this week’s magazine on how China and India will come to create jobs for Americans, Europeans, and just about everyone else, not “steal” them, as they are often accused of doing. I know at first reading, such an idea might sound completely ridiculous. China is sucking up manufacturing …
Though Japan is still struggling to resolve its nuclear crisis and tally the losses to human life and property caused by the giant earthquake and tsunami that devastated its northeast coast, scholars are already philosophizing on how the disaster could change Japanese politics and society over the long term. In an interesting essay for …
